Labour ignore Equitable Life victims seven months after EU said they should get compensation

Gordon Brown still has not replied to results of Equitable Life victims’ EU petition

Brussels, 24th January 2008 — Seven months after the European Union judged that victims of the Equitable Life scandal should receive full compensation from the British Government, Sir Robert Atkins MEP, Conservative head of the Petitions Committee in the European Parliament has revealed that Gordon Brown has not replied to, or even acknowledged the report.

Sir Robert, who was instrumental in persuading the European Parliament to establish the Committee of Inquiry, said: “Labour are treating the Equitable Life victims like the Northern Rock depositors - with discourtesy to the Parliamentary institutions that are fighting for them and with churlishness to the people who have lost money because of the Labour Government’s incompetence.”

Established on behalf of the one million policyholders, the Equitable Life committee blamed regulators who were lamentably deficient in supervising, investigating and regulating the company’s operation. Lord Neill, a former chairman of the Committee of Standards in Public Life, stated that the British Financial Ombudsman Service failed in its duty to give unbiased support to victims of the affair.

Meeting Paul Braithwaite (Secretary General of the Equitable Members Action Group) at the Petitions Committee Sir Robert added: “Why does the Prime Minister want to offer a gratuitous insult to the aggrieved policy-holders of Equitable Life who expected more from their Prime Minister and their Government?”